Tews' letter to Hitchens.

Working people will pay for this war in their taxes, as Bush shifts more of the burden to us.

This war is a transfer of wealth from us to the rich, as is most of federal policy in the Bush administration. Perhaps organized tax protests would be an effective tactic against the state?

Paul Palinkas Seattle, WA

Plaudits and credits (clap, clap, clap, yay!)

You have a good tone. You are indignant without being whiney, neither overly intellectual nor stupidly sensational. The tone of your Saturday morning show is great as well. Some of the Mind Over Matters shows make me want to crack open a beer at 8 in the morning, but yours gets me activated. You have the right combination of dread and cheer! Keep laughing. You're smart, grounded, pragmatic, and local. Thank you for "Blowing Hard" in your last issue. That Stranger article pissed me the fuck off, and you had my back. You dissected that article so nice and cleanly, exposing each bloody entrail as the illogical misconception it was.

Hooray.

The front of your t-shirt looks cool, but the back???

Thanks!

g brun, via e-mail

ETS!,

Since I am a subscriber, and sent you allegedly "real money" for a subscription, (which is actually delivered by a designated representative of the Untied States Government quasi-public Post Office) I had to respond to your latest issue of Jan 29.

I get more out of you than I do from the Tacoma paper, or certainly the unmentionable toilet paper the "Olympian," or even the Seattle papers or other disgusting things I could, but won't mention.

Keep up the good work, and (as a patriot of earlier times said) Don't give up the ship! (And keep the torpedoes handy...)

James Morgan, Olympia, WA

Two Alternatives to War

Surround Saddam and play loud rock'n'roll at him until he surrenders. Benefits of this strategy: Saddam is motivated to save his own life. A country-club atmosphere on an isolated but guarded estate is promised to him. He is aware Noriega has made a deal and is secretly no longer imprisoned in America per se. Seems do-able.

Drawbacks: Saddam's forces may fight harder than Noriega's and Saddam may be harder to locate.

2. The President simply picks up a telephone and calls Saddam and commences negotiations. Difficulty level: moderate/high. The President must actually speak meaningfully in a difficult exchange, one-on-one with Hussein. Benefits to this strategy: it is quite simple and may actually accomplish something. Lives will be saved, even if only temporarily. Drawbacks: The US President may not be as intelligent as Hussein.

Russ Newsom, via e-mail

Don't Eat the Chickens!

I can't remember the last issue of Eat the State! when animal rights or PETA was not mentioned. It's encouraging to know that people are beginning to make the connection between globalization, human rights, politics, and animal suffering.

My main reason for writing was to inform your staff and audience of a major campaign led by PETA against Kentucky Fried Chicken.

More than 700 million chickens are raised each year for KFC and endure atrocious living conditions even before slaughter. Examples include being crammed by the tens of thousands into sheds that stink of ammonia fumes from accumulated waste; they are given barely even room to move (each bird lives in the amount of space equivalent to a standard sheet of paper). They routinely suffer broken bones from being bred to be top heavy, from callous handling (workers roughly grab birds by their legs and stuff them into crates) and from being shackled upside down at slaughterhouses. Chickens are often still fully conscious as their throats are cut or when they are dumped into tanks of scalding hot water to remove their feathers. When they're killed, chickens are still babies, not yet two months old, out of a natural life span of 10-15 years.

PETA is asking KFC and their supplier, Yum! brands, to follow the lead of competitors such as Burger King, McDonald's, and Wendy's, by raising animal welfare standards. Requested improvements include replacing electrical stunning and throat slicing with gas killing, and providing sheltered areas and perches in chicken houses. These demands are sensible, as well as easily affordable for any corporation of KFC's size, with the simple intention of making these chickens' shortened lives a little less miserable.

Please see KFCCruelty.com for more information and ways to help this cause.

Of course, the best thing you can do for all animals everywhere is switch to a plant-based diet. On GoVeg.com, you can request a free vegetarian starter pack to be mailed to you.

Michelle S Brittan, via e-mail

Tax Bites

A major study released in January shows that Washington's tax system is the most unfair in the nation. According to the study, by the Institute on Taxation and Economic Policy, Washington's low- and moderate-income families are taxed at a much higher rate than better-off households. The lowest-income families--those earning less than $17,000 a year--pay 17.6% of their income in state and local taxes; while the wealthiest--making more than $922,000 a year--pay only 3.3%.

For a summary of the study's major findings for Washington, click here www.forwashington.org/projects/finance/itep030131.php. To see the full study, including state-by-state charts, click here www.itepnet.org/whopays.htm.

Kristin Pula, Research Associate, Institute for Washington's Future, (425) 226-1909 or www.forwashington.org